I delivered three lectures in three churches over
three weeks following Ash Wednesday as part of the programme of ChurchesTogether for Chipping Barnet.
The first lecture explored the exquisite but disturbing poetry of
Nahum. Its content may be unsuitable for
anyone under the age of 15 as it contains frequent strong violence, including
brief scenes of depicting sexual violence.
Nahum is a pronouncement against Nineveh, the seat of the Assyrian
Empire in the seventh century BC. The
empire is renowned for its cruelty, not least because of its own propaganda,
much of which is now visible in the British Museum. But the document is above all a revelation of
who God is, a God whose severity in dealing with evil is a comfort to those who
suffer. “Good is YHWH – as a stronghold
– in the day of distress.”
What does it mean for God to be good? Nahum takes up verses from Exodus
34 in which God, having revealed his name – YHWH, “I am who I am” – further
discloses his character. Nahum gives
this verses a twist in a carefully organised poem which stresses that while God
is indeed slow to (act on his) anger, he is nevertheless consistently and
fiercely opposed to evil. In fact, he is
constantly angry when faced with evil or, to put it differently, he is constant
in his anger. Unlike us, God does not
flare up in anger, overcome by passions.
His anger is calm and measured but in due course fully effective.
Hating evil is the counterpart of loving good. Defeating enemies is the counterpart to
protecting those who take refuge in him.
It is good news that God’s goodness is militant. God does not tolerate evil – ever. God does not accommodate himself to evil –
ever. God does not give in to evil – ever.
This is why the cross is necessary.
God forgives evildoers without tolerating evil. Forgiveness costs something because it is not
a matter of saying “it doesn’t matter” or “it was no big deal” or “let’s just
forget about it”. Forgiving is not the same
as ignoring wrongdoing. It is
acknowledging that wrong has been done without letting this destroy a
relationship.
On the cross God shows his opposition to wrongdoing. He crosses out evil, forgiving evildoers
while at the same time demonstrating his fierce opposition to evil.
We explored four images used in Nahum to break the hold Nineveh had on
the imagination of God’s people, four images designed to take away the fear.
(1) Nineveh, the beautiful garden city which may well have hosted the
real “Babylonian” Hanging Gardens will a pool whose water runs away. Pools and canals were a symbol of order
just as the sea was a symbol of chaos.
The draining of Nineveh’s pools envisages the erasure of Assyrian order
in line with the claim represented by the structure of the opening poem that
God’s order, while hidden and in some ways compromised, will prevail.
(2) Assyrian chariots were a symbol of their power. The picture of such chariots going up in
smoke is meant to reassure the people of God that Assyrian power will not
prevail.
(3) The Assyrian king portrayed himself as the lion-hunter par
excellence. No-one else was allowed to kill lions. Finishing off a lion was royal business and
demonstrated sovereignty. In
Nahum’s poetry the Assyrian king becomes a lion who is unable to hold on to his
prey and provide for his own. YHWH is
the true king because he is the one who will bring about this state of affairs.
(4) Nineveh is also portrayed as a prostitute who will be publicly
humiliated so that its falsehood will be fully exposed.
We usually belittle only those we consider “beneath” us but in so far
as belittling can ever have a positive effect it must be a belittling that
helps us keep things in perspective, making the frightful things that hover
over us smaller. Nahum suggests that
this is best done by magnifying God.
Keeping God’s sovereignty and power, his majesty and ability to keep
order high on our minds can ensure that other things do not become too big for
us.
